Change your shape, change your destiny (5), by dutchbuffy2305

Rating: R

Spoilers: S4

Author's note: This takes place just before the Season 5 opener.

Disclaimer: These characters belong to Joss

Author's website:

Feedback: Yes, please, to dutchbuffy2305@yahoo.co.uk

Willow sat chewing her nails while she nervously kept checking the door. Buffy and Giles had gone to pick up Spike, who had called in from Willy's Bar claiming to have caught Ethan. It was going to be up to her provide the magic to find out if he really was Ethan, and to undo the spell. It was totally scary to have everyone rely on you, although on the other hand she kind of liked it, too. But would she be able to do magic in this Giles body?

She got up and walked to the shop door to peer out. In the distance she heard a car approaching. Tires were screeching and horns were honking, and she guessed it must be the car she was waiting for, with Spike at the wheel. He drove better than Buffy anyway, and Giles couldn't be trusted in his Harmony body, or so he had decreed himself. She remained standing in the shop door, holding it open so they could transport their prisoners inside.

The mind boggled at the sight she beheld in the yellowy light of the street lamps. Three women, one very young, one a little older and a middle-aged one, lugging the big body of two unconscious men inside. Actually, the youngest and slenderest did the most work, while the big-boobed one delivered acrid comments and the middle-aged one made ineffectual tries to carry more than her share, as if she didn't know her own strength.

"Shut up, Spike!" Buffy hissed in Joyce's voice and elbowed him sharply in his side.

"Ow! That really hurts, Slayer! Thank you for giving this woman a serious internal injury!"

Buffy looked guilty for a moment, but seemed to shake it off. After all, it was Spike saying this. "Come on! This is Mom's elbow, not mine."

Spike huffed and walked inside on his bare feet, pretending to be deeply hurt.

"Hey!" Buffy said. "Where are her shoes? Did you leave them at Willy's?"

Spike looked down. "Yeah. Bloody uncomfortable things, they were. Her feet'll thank me."

"No, they won't, you moron. They were Pradas!"

Spike and Giles shared a look of mutual lack of understanding.

Willow looked on silently. It was fascinating to see the dynamics playing out. Spike a little less brash then usual, Giles defensive and uncomfortable, Buffy not the muscle for once. In spite of Giles irritability, he seemed to be coping better than Buffy. Buffy kept bumping into things and misjudging her own strength, as if she couldn't get used to the new body's dimensions and limitations. And Spike seemed to stay just Spike, whatever body he inhabited. Funny.

With Willow's help, they lugged Ethan's big body inside, into the magic circle she and Tara had prepared while the others were out retrieving him. The Riley body was propped up in a chair. Buffy personally supervised his tying up, concerned that they were cutting off his circulation. Willow wondered at how many Scooby bodies had turned up in their vicinity. Ethan must have been paying special care to discomfort them as much as possible. Was this whole thing an elaborate revenge or did he have other motives?

"How did you know this was Ethan, Spike?" she asked.

"I was at Willy's for a drink and a chat with my mates, and he tried to capture me, didn't he? Wanted to use me for his black magic ritual," Spike said.

Willow's nose crinkled involuntarily. "You were lucky, I guess. It needs a lot of power to do a spell like this, involving thousands of people. He was going to kill you?"

Spike looked askance at her. "Actually I think he was going to have me raped first, and then kill me. Generates a lot of power, too."

Willow put a hand on his arm. "Ew, Spike, you are so lucky to be out of that. Poor thing!"

Spike sighed and leaned into her. "It was very traumatic. I think I'll need lots of therapy."

Willow was torn, feeling acutely uncomfortable with Spike's head on her shoulder, but unable not to provide a fellow female with support and sympathy.

She was rescued by Buffy, who showed no such concern. "Get off her, Spike. Don't play the victim, nobody believes you anyway."

"Oi! I am a victim! I'm bloody vulnerable in this body, just like you are."

"Huh." Buffy wasn't impressed.

Willow's mind returned to the spell Ethan had been going to use. "Spike, do you think your body is a virgin? That would be even bigger power source."

Spike opened his eyes exaggeratedly and spread his arms wide. "Look at it. Could a gorgeous looking bird like this be a virgin? Hardly. Not that I'd know for certain, of course."

Tara called out to Willow, distracting her from Spike-as-a-virgin thoughts. They finished the power circle around the unconscious body of who they hoped was the villain of this whole damn thing and stood back. Giles and Buffy came to gawp and comment.

"Is a circle of powdered herbs and some chanting really gonna hold Ethan?" Buffy wondered.

Giles pinched the bridge of his nose. "We certainly hope so, Buffy. Now we'll just have to wait until he wakes up."

"Can't we just kick him or something, or force him to wake up with a spell?" Buffy said.

Willow jumped up, her mind immediately flashing to a certain spell she'd read recently, but Tara's voice halted her.

"We can't treat this body roughly! It belongs to someone else, who's completely innocent of whatever crimes this warlock's done," Tara protested.

"Yes, of course," Giles muttered. "We'll have to wait then."

"Oh, bloody hell!" Spike exclaimed. "Has your world never been the slightest bit grey before? I'll save you Mother Teresas the trouble, since I'm evil anyway."

He stalked over to the unconscious man and slapped and shook him roughly. He moaned and stirred faintly. Spike stepped out of the circle

"Well?" he demanded. "Get on with the magic already.

Wasn't plucking the fruits of evil deeds just as evil as doing them yourself? Willow wondered, but Tara took her hand and started the spell they needed to chant. She gathered her scattered wits and joined in on the fifth word. A spider's web of vague, glimmering strands started to form in the air, taking on more shine and substance as they chanted on. At the second repetition, Harmony's voice joined in on the chant and the strength of the fire tripled with a jolt. Giles again proved he was a far more competent sorcerer than he was willing to let on. Willow vowed to call him on that if they got out of this whole heap of trouble.

Ethan's loaned body stirred again and opened its eyes. He remained perfectly motionless for a moment, staring at the fiery web that floated above and around him.

"Oh, bugger," he said.

He sat up with a groan, having to hunker down a little to prevent his head bumping against the magic constraints. He swiveled his head to take in the people standing around the circle.

He sighed. "Oh Ripper, do you always have to be the one to ruin my fun?"

"What do you expect, you prat, if you insist on showing up in my town?" Giles replied caustically and crossed his arms before his breasts.

Ethan Rayne winked at him. "Well, yeah. Taking risks can be quite enjoyable, can't it?"

"Last time I saw you, you were begin manhandled in a highly satisfactory manner by a bunch of Government soldiers. How did you escape?"

Ethan looked sly. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Willow didn't need to wait for Giles' signal. With a nod to Tara, they gestured together and slapped on the truth spell.

Ethan was saying, "…living it up in Manila, where the boys are pretty and cheap…" when it hit, and he doubled over in pain. "Ow! Bloody hell! I'm still there, you clueless idiots! Why else would I be using other people's bodies!"

He smiled a broad, pained, but triumphant shark-like smile, which actually made him look like Ethan really did.

"Of course!" Giles mumbled excitedly. "You needed magic to escape imprisonment! But why mix up all of Sunnydale? Doesn't that cost a lot of extra mojo?"

"That's in tribute to the God of Chaos. He thrives on the confusion and mayhem that reign in Sunnydale right now," Ethan whispered hoarsely, still trying to fight the truth spell. "Isn't a truth spell of this magnitude a bit overkill? This is needless cruelty to a fellow countryman. It's just a bit of harmless chaos and fun, no need to clamp down quite so heavily."

"You'd better get us back, you poophead!" Willow said angrily. "Giles nearly ate Tara here! Did you want people to have murder on their conscience?"

"Yeah?"

Spike chuckled. "Sensing a kindred spirit here, mate. But you might as well give up. Nothing can withstand the relentless pursuit of dreary rules and regulations by the Slayer and her Watcher. Believe me, I've tried."

"Ain't her Watcher anymore, is he?" Ethan said gleefully. "Told me he got fired, the tosser."

He was effectively silenced by Harmony's little shiny boot to his temple. She looked almost scary in game face.

"Giles! " Willow said, shocked. "Don't kill him; we want our bodies back first!"

"Killing is wrong," Spike intoned virtuously. "Except when the holy Scoobies themselves are threatened, of course."

"Shut up, Spike!" Buffy said and placed Joyce's sensible pumps firmly on Spike's unprotected toes. "Giles, could we send Spike to rot away for eternity in Ethan's body?"

Visibly struggling, Giles managed to return to Harmony's human face. "We probably could, Buffy, but much as I loathe the little pest, I hate Ethan Rayne even more. So, no."

"Yes, do badmouth your allies, see how happy they will be to help you in the future! Without me, you wouldn't have captured this bastard!" Spike protested.

Buffy threateningly lifted her foot again and Spike sensibly retreated from the line of fire.

As Ethan was unable to provide more answers for the moment, the Scoobies sat themselves around the big table and brainstormed.

"Let's recapitulate," Giles said, frowning heavily and playing with his hair. "One, we need an enormous amount of power to switch all the citizens of Sunnydale back to their own bodies. Two, we need to force Ethan to cooperate, as we don't know the spell ourselves. Suggestions?"

"If Riley was here, he could phone the base to have them torture Ethan's body or something," Xander mused.

Willow sat straight up. "Yeah! Buffy, where is Riley? We've seen his body around, but not himself!"

Buffy shrugged helplessly. "I wish I knew. If it was any use I'd go looking for him!"

Willow waved her hands. "I didn't mean to imply you're a bad girlfriend, Buffy. I just sort of wondered, since we've seen everybody else."

"Where's Anya?" interjected Xander. "She was here this morning!" A worried tone entered his voice.

"She'll be alright, Xander," Willow said sweetly. "As a former demon, Anya will fell right at home in this kind of situation."

Xander sighed and ran a hand over his balding head. 

"Well, I really hope Mom's okay," Buffy chimed in. "I think she knows I'd be here."

Giles sighed. "Joyce is a very sensible woman, Buffy, and I'm sure she's laying low and relying on us to save the day. Same for Anya and Riley; they know the score and would come here if they could. Probably Ethan deliberately kept Riley away for precisely the reason Xander mentioned. He could have done it to all of us, easily. Make us vamps in daytime, or put us in a bedridden or infant body. That he didn't means he wanted us to experience fully all the trouble he caused. Hubris will defeat a villain every single time," he added pedantically.

"Last time he would have gotten away without Spike's help, wouldn't he?" Tara asked.

"Hrm, yes," Giles mumbled. "Stay focused, people."

Willow squeezed Tara's hand encouragingly when she hung her head at this.

"About the power Ethan was gonna use: you really think raping Spike was gonna do it?" Xander said, an eew ready on his lips.

Giles turned his head to Spike on the ladder. "D'you think he knew you were in there, Spike?"

Spike shrugged. "Couldn't say. Didn't let on if he did."

"I don't think he could have known you helped me when I was a Fyarl demon. He would be unaware of your existence. So I think raping any woman would have done the trick," Giles said. "Obviously, we'll have to find another way of raising that much power."

"Willow is a very powerful witch," Tara said proudly.

Willow looked a little doubtful. "I'm happy you think I can, sweetie, but switching bodies for 30,000 people? That's way bigger than anything I've ever tried before…"

"We'll have to try," Giles said resolutely. "Harmony here is getting a tad peckish. I'll keep Ethan in check with my vampire strength."

He looked up in irritation when a snort sounded form the direction of the ladder. "Spike? Anything constructive to add for a change?"

Spike shook his head and held up his hands. Willow didn't like the smile that played on his lips but didn't pursue it.

"But Giles," Willow said thoughtfully, "if the spell works, we'll all be flung back into our bodies, including Ethan. It'll take time getting back here, especially Riley, and we need him he to tell the military about this somehow."

"If we swapped everyone back except Ethan?" Xander suggested.

"No!" Tara said. "We don't know what would happen to the spirit of the person who owns the body!"

"Okay, how about Harmony? No big loss there!"

Willow checked out Spike, but he was inspecting his chipped red nails critically, unmoved by the suggestion.

"Spike?" Xander said, "Spike? You know, Harmony, who was your girlfriend?"

"'Was' being the operative word here, mate," Spike said calmly.

"Could we, Giles?" Buffy asked. "She doesn't have a soul anymore, does she?"

Giles scratched his head. "It's a good question, Buffy, and it pains me to admit that I'm in the dark as to the answer. She doesn't have her soul anymore, and we'd stake her if we found her biting people, but to fling her not-soul or spirit or whatever into some kind of limbo – it just doesn't feel right."

"We could try to bind his mind instead of his body," Tara suggested practically.

Giles looked up hopefully. "Could you do that, Willow? You and Tara?"

They arranged themselves in and around the circle. Tara, Willow, Buffy and Xander holding hands on the outside, Harmony sitting on Ethan's loaner body on the inside of the circle.

Willow and Tara started chanting. Willow found it hard to concentrate, a part of her attention claimed by the soft swish of Spike's barefoot pacing. Every minute or so he would come within her range of vision, a set look to his face and hands rhythmically clenching and unclenching. "He's up to something," she thought. "I really have to concentrate."

The binding spell was relatively simple. Xander offered his tie, and she herself donated Giles' belt to truss up the awakened and glaring Ethan. Tara explained that tying him up in reality made it easier for the spell to take hold. If Willow closed her eyes, she could see the ghostly white binding energy shimmering around and through Ethan's body.

Then the real work began. At last, after the thirteenth or so repetition of their convocation a sense of magic began to build up. Willow had decided on the simplest possible form of request; she'd ask for things restored as they had been two days ago. There would be no point in going into specific restorations or other requests, since there were simply too many to keep track of. She and Tara continued to chant, with Xander and Buffy providing emotional if not magic support, and she started to feel a pressing sensation in her skull, as if something was in the process of squeezing her brains through a very small hole. It made her a little dizzy and short of breath, and she tried not to fight it, but go with it, follow the sensation to its source. She visualized it as a big steaming cauldron, in which thousands of colored swirls were chasing each other in a maddened dance, twirling and twisting, choosing and rejecting. Finally, she saw, or half saw/smelled a particular color/scent in an elusive wisp of smoke and followed it. It turned; there was a sense of mutual recognition and they merged.

TBC